


Stowaway

by ephemera (incognitajones)



Series: Asterisms [9]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Space Kittens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2018-11-13 17:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11189796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incognitajones/pseuds/ephemera
Summary: Bodhi finds an unauthorized passenger onboard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small [Tumblr ficlet](https://incognitajones.tumblr.com/post/160637358583/ohbeeone-said-my-go-to-cute-fluff-ship-of-your) based on **FebruarySong** 's prompt: "my go-to cute fluff: ship of your choice must babysit a kitten; shenanigans ensue."  
> This fill isn’t ship-based, but I couldn’t resist the idea of these two discovering a small creature.

Bodhi swung down into the pilot’s chair, ready to start preflight checks, and a lump he wasn’t expecting to be there made contact with his foot. It felt soft and yielding, at least until it grew spikes like needles and poked them into his shin through the tough fabric of his coveralls.

“Ow! What the—”

He jumped up and peered into the footwell. Something—two somethings? no, one thing with four reflective eyes—was huddled in the cramped space, spitting and hissing.

"Kay!” Bodhi shouted. “Come get this thing out of here.” Kriff, what was it? Was it venomous? He wasn’t about to stick his hand in there and risk another scratch, or a bite.

“What is it?” The droid’s head appeared above the companionway ladder.

Bodhi pointed under the console. “Looks like we picked up a stowaway.”

K-2 clambered into the cockpit and extended a long spindly arm into the thing’s hiding place. A high-pitched yowl emerged, along with a tiny, fuzzy creature clasped in Kay’s hold. It had dappled, watery blue fur and a long tail, four bright green eyes, and a general air of fragility somehow combined with extreme aggression. (Actually, the attitude kind of reminded Bodhi of Jyn, if she had four eyes and blue fur.)

“A pittwith,” the droid identified it, after holding the creature up in front of his ocular receptors. “Native to several planets in the Core Worlds, often raised as companion animals or used to exterminate vermin.”

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t belong on our ship,” Bodhi said. He reached out gingerly to see what it felt like, keeping an eye on the thing’s mouth in case it decided to take a bite out of him. The short fur on its floppy ears was even softer than it looked. “How did it get in here? I don’t want to steal someone’s pet.”

“Pittwith are capable of making their way through very small apertures, but it most likely entered while the ramp was down and we were busy loading cargo. This is an immature individual, or kitten, about two standard months old and probably feral. Spaceports are often infested with pittwith.”

“Huh.” Bodhi didn’t remember seeing any pittwith on his previous piloting routes, but Jedha had had few domestic animals in general and not a lot of vermin to hunt. And the Empire probably wouldn’t have allowed a bunch of semi-wild animals to run around its scientific outposts—unless they were there as experimental subjects.

The kitten twisted in Kay’s grip and started trying to lick the metal fingers holding it in place. Bodhi laughed and touched the soft fur behind its ears again. It turned its head upside down at an angle that looked impossible and licked the underside of his wrist instead.

Kay turned toward the companionway. “I will release it before takeoff.”

“Hang on,” Bodhi said. “I mean, no-one’s going to miss it, right?”

“There is a high probability that such is the case.”

“It’s kind of cute.”

“The exaggerated size of its eyes does give it an appealing quality,” Kay said.

“And there’s plenty of vermin on Hoth. Baze was complaining about scrabblers in the southern corridors just the other day.”

“If you’re looking for a justification to keep the pittwith, Bodhi, you need not bother. I don’t care what you do with it.” Kay poked the kitten’s belly gently and it made a strange rumbling noise that vibrated in its chest. “That is an interesting vocalization.”

Bodhi sat back down in the pilot’s chair and resumed his interrupted prelaunch sequence. “Well, then, you can hold onto it until we get back to Echo Base. Any ideas for a name?”

“A designation?” K-2 folded into the co-pilot’s seat and clamped his hands carefully around the kitten to hold it in place. “Perhaps we should name it after Jyn Erso. There is a resemblance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pittwith don't exist in SW canon (I made them up) but ice scrabblers do, and apparently created problems on Echo Base. The more you know!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long, long, looong time ago **FebruarySong** prompted me on [Tumblr](https://incognitajones.tumblr.com/post/167960716878/so-a-long-long-looong-time-ago-ohbeeone) with “they’re so cute when they’re asleep” and I ended up writing this short, impromptu sequel.

In the end, the pittwith was not named after Jyn Erso. Cassian’s face turned an intriguing colour when K-2SO suggested it, but after a coughing fit he pointed out that it would be unnecessarily confusing to have two beings with the same name on the same base. K-2SO countered that they could easily assign the animal a version number, such as Jyn the Second, but somehow that solution was never adopted. 

Instead, it became known by the term Bodhi originally called it: Stowaway, or Stow for short. K-2SO doesn’t consider humans’ obsession with abbreviating designations to so-called “nick names” justified in this case. But then, they can’t resist doing it even to such a short designation as K-2SO.

Stowaway can often be found perching on Baze’s shoulder, chirping in his ear while the former Guardian disassembles and cleans his weapon. Baze doesn’t appear to notice or pay any attention, but he carefully holds his back steady so that the pittwith can easily maintain its balance.

“It likes the high ground,” Jyn says when she sees it sitting on Baze, curling its tail around his neck. “Smart animal.” She directs a look at K-2 that the droid finds difficult to analyze. “Must be why it likes riding around on your back.”

The pittwith likes most organic life forms; it’s certainly friendly toward Chirrut and Jyn and Cassian. But it has a clear preference for Bodhi and Baze—and K-2SO, which gives him a good deal of satisfaction if for no other reason than it makes Jyn extremely disgruntled.

Once Baze is finished cleaning his weapon, the pittwith jumps lightly down from his shoulder to the ground. It winds around K-2SO’s lower limbs (Jyn rolls her eyes) before going to investigate Bodhi’s sleeping form.

Bodhi is curled up on the bench, his head pillowed on Cassian’s rolled-up vest. He’d returned from a long reconnaissance flight exhausted, but wanting company; the others had smiled as his voice slowly trailed off into silence and made room for him as he slid down into a horizontal position. The pittwith sniffs at Bodhi’s ponytail, chews on a strand of his hair, and then picks its way delicately over his body, toes flexing, to curl up against his stomach. It shuts its four eyes and conceals them under its tail.

“Ah, the young ones are cute when they’re asleep,” Chirrut remarks.

“Cute” is an overly elastic concept; organics seem to use it to mean everything from sexually attractive to pathos-inducing. However, K-2 is willing to agree that Bodhi and the pittwith are certainly appealing. Both of them are emitting faint whirring noises while breathing harshly, like an overheated processor.

Baze makes a low, grumbling noise in his throat. “You’re a sentimental old fool. The creature just likes to be warm.”

Jyn tugs her scarf off and drapes it over Bodhi’s shoulders. “Wouldn’t want either of them to catch cold.” She shrugs. Cassian smiles at her knowingly, and she scowls at him.


End file.
